Post navigation

Jury Booty…

I am serving in a Grand Jury this month, and today was my first official day. It was interesting, but I think it’s gonna get old quickly.

There was no booty involved (although there was a very cute witness) but I wanted to come up with a catchy title.

For those of you in states or countries that don’t have Grand Juries, here’s how it works: We decide if there is enough evidence for a criminal trial. There are 23 of us, and a majority leads to indictment or dismissal. That’s all there is. It’s another level of protection for the accused, but it feels like a rubber stamp to me. As NY judge Sol Wachtler famously said (referring to the DA’s control over it) “a grand jury could indict a ham sandwich.”

More likely, any sandwich that appears in court will be eaten. All we could talk about between cases was putting together a bagels and coffee club and schedule. We were hungry, and we needed cawfee badly like the players in Gauntlet. We ended up with a hung jury on the bagels and cawfee. I was disappointed in the ruling.

I also learned that most of the stuff you see on crime shows is bullshit.

I can’t talk much about the cases, but I will do my best not to let it be a rubber stamp. After all, it’s my civic booty.

***Begin Shameless Plug***

Like History? Like Fantasy? Check out my latest novel, The Watchmage of Old New York. It’s been compared to everything from The Dresden Files to Gangs of New York to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Don’t take my word for it (ok, take my word for it), pick it up at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and/or all the other sites out there. You might even find it in a local bookstore.